Section 13: Spatial Joins Exercises¶
Here’s a reminder of some of the functions we have seen. Hint: they should be useful for the exercises!
- sum(expression): aggregate to return a sum for a set of records
- count(expression): aggregate to return the size of a set of records
- ST_Area(geometry) returns the area of the polygons
- ST_AsText(geometry) returns WKT text
- ST_Contains(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A contains geometry B
- ST_Distance(geometry A, geometry B) returns the minimum distance between geometry A and geometry B
- ST_DWithin(geometry A, geometry B, radius) returns the true if geometry A is radius distance or less from geometry B
- ST_GeomFromText(text) returns geometry
- ST_Intersects(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A intersects geometry B
- ST_Length(linestring) returns the length of the linestring
- ST_Touches(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if the boundary of geometry A touches geometry B
- ST_Within(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A is within geometry B
Also remember the tables we have available:
- nyc_census_blocks
- name, popn_total, boroname, geom
- nyc_streets
- name, type, geom
- nyc_subway_stations
- name, routes, geom
- nyc_neighborhoods
- name, boroname, geom
Exercises¶
“What subway station is in ‘Little Italy’? What subway route is it on?”
SELECT s.name, s.routes FROM nyc_subway_stations AS s JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n ON ST_Contains(n.geom, s.geom) WHERE n.name = 'Little Italy';
name | routes -----------+-------- Spring St | 6
“What are all the neighborhoods served by the 6-train?” (Hint: The routes column in the nyc_subway_stations table has values like ‘B,D,6,V’ and ‘C,6’)
SELECT DISTINCT n.name, n.boroname FROM nyc_subway_stations AS s JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n ON ST_Contains(n.geom, s.geom) WHERE strpos(s.routes,'6') > 0;
name | boroname --------------------+----------- Midtown | Manhattan Hunts Point | The Bronx Gramercy | Manhattan Little Italy | Manhattan Financial District | Manhattan South Bronx | The Bronx Yorkville | Manhattan Murray Hill | Manhattan Mott Haven | The Bronx Upper East Side | Manhattan Chinatown | Manhattan East Harlem | Manhattan Greenwich Village | Manhattan Parkchester | The Bronx Soundview | The Bronx
Note
We used the DISTINCT keyword to remove duplicate values from our result set where there were more than one subway station in a neighborhood.
“After 9/11, the ‘Battery Park’ neighborhood was off limits for several days. How many people had to be evacuated?”
SELECT Sum(popn_total) FROM nyc_neighborhoods AS n JOIN nyc_census_blocks AS c ON ST_Intersects(n.geom, c.geom) WHERE n.name = 'Battery Park';
17153“What are the population density (people / km^2) of the ‘Upper West Side’ and ‘Upper East Side’?” (Hint: There are 1000000 m^2 in one km^2.)
SELECT n.name, Sum(c.popn_total) / (ST_Area(n.geom) / 1000000.0) AS popn_per_sqkm FROM nyc_census_blocks AS c JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n ON ST_Intersects(c.geom, n.geom) WHERE n.name = 'Upper West Side' OR n.name = 'Upper East Side' GROUP BY n.name, n.geom;
name | popn_per_sqkm -----------------+------------------ Upper East Side | 48524.4877489857 Upper West Side | 40152.4896080024
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